Kerala election results 2021: LDF wins 97 seats, UDF 41; BJP draws a blank

Kerala election results 2021 LIVE updates: LDF rewrote history by breaking Kerala's four-decade-old trend of swinging between the communists and the UDF

Kerala Assembly elections

Kerala election results 2021 LIVE updates: Led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) rewrote history in Kerala on Sunday by winning a second term in a state that had not returned an incumbent government in four decades. Vijayan, the 76-year-old CPI(M) leader, became only the third chief minister in Kerala's history to be re-elected and the first to continue in office after completing a full term. The LDF's win is just the second instance of a ruling front receiving consecutive terms.

The LDF won 97 of the state's 140 seats, besting its own 2016 tally of 91 seatss. The opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) won 47 seats, while challenger Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to open its account.

"We have closed the account that the BJP opened in the Kerala Assembly in 2016 election. Kerala has become the only Assembly in India that has no representative from the BJP. Kerala will remain the citadel of secularism in the country," said CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac on Twitter.

Fighting on the plank of development, the LDF is believed to have won votes with its prompt and able handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The BJP, which had opened its account in the state last time with one seat and had expected to win at least half a dozen this time, drew a blank. Senior leaders like Kummanam Rajasekharan, K Surendran, Sobha Surendran and E Sreedharan were all defeated from their respective constituencies.

Stay tuned for Kerala election results 2021 LIVE updates

10:05 AM

Veteran Kerala politician R Balakrishna Pillai is no more

The 87-year-old R. Balakrishna Pillai, one of Kerala's stalwart politician breathed his last at a hospital at Kottarakara on Monday, said family sources.

Pillai was ailing due to old age problems and was a few days back admitted to the hospital following breathing problems.

However he passed away after coming to know that his film star son K.B. Ganesh Kumar won his fifth straight assembly elections from Pathanapuram in Kollam district.

Pillai's glorious political career began in 1960, when he won his first assembly election from Pathanapuram as a Congress candidate and then he had no reason to look back till 2006, when he lost from his home base at Kottarakara and after that he has stayed away from electoral politics.

5:16 AM

Final tally: LDF bags 97 seats, UDF 41, BJP 0

At the final count of votes on Sunday, the LDF bested its own previous tally of 91 by winning 97 seats in the 140-member Assembly. Opposition UDF won 41, while challenger BJP, which had opened its account in 2016 with one seat, drew a blank.

10:07 PM

Kerala election result 2021 LIVE updates: Kadakampally Surendran wins from Kazhakkoottam constituency

9:10 PM

Kerala election results 2021: Counting on smoothly, but website slow due to server overload, says EC

8:49 PM

Kerala election result 2021 LIVE updates: Former union minister K J Alphons loses from Kanjirappally

8:43 PM

Kerala election result 2021 LIVE updates: Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala wins by margin of 13,666 votes

Kerala: Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala wins by margin of 13,666 votes from Haripad

8:41 PM

Kerala election results 2021 LIVE: 'Metroman' E Sreedharan loses election from Palakkad

8:09 PM

Kerala election results 2021: Welfare thrust helps left rewrite history

Effective implementation of welfare schemes has helped chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan lead the left democratic front (LDF), rewrite history, and return to power in Kerala. This is the first time in history that an incumbent chief minister came back to power after completing a full term. Kerala alternates between UDF and LDF even when governments perform reasonably well. Except in 1977, no ruling front has been re-elected.

The LDF, a coalition, is likely to win 99 out of the 140 seats in the Kerala assembly. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is leading in the remaining 41 seats.

In the 2016 elections, the LDF had won 91 seats, and UDF had won 47 seats. Read on...

7:56 PM

Kerala election results 2021 LIVE updates: PM Modi congratulates Pinarayi Vijayan

6:15 PM

Kerala election result 2021 LIVE updates: Congratulations, Kerala!, tweets Sitaram Yechury

6:03 PM

Kerala election results LIVE: Not the time to celebrate due ot Covid-19 pandemic, says Pinarayi Vijayan

"The people of Kerala have once again reposed faith in the Left front. But this is not a time to celebrate due to the large spread of Covid-19. We have to continue the fight against Covid-19," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on LDF's strong performance in the state elections.

5:17 PM